Stockton No Steal, At First

Mo Cheeks remembers the first time he saw John Stockton. It was during an exhibition game in Las Vegas during the Utah point guard’s rookie season.

“I remember him coming in the game and me thinking he couldn’t play,” said Cheeks, now an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers.

“You kind of take it lightheartedly when someone like him comes in, because he didn’t look like he could play right off the bat. I thought I could get a steal off him right away, and I tried it and he went by me and scored - and he did it repeatedly. I had never seen him before, but from there on I noticed him because of that one time. I said ‘Oh, this guy looks like he CAN play.”’ Stockton, in his 12th season, has been fooling opponents ever since.

He broke Cheeks’ NBA record for career steals Tuesday night by getting two as the Jazz beat the Boston Celtics 112-98 at Salt Lake City.

Stockton entered the game with 2,309 steals, one short of the total Cheeks amassed in 15 seasons. The NBA didn’t begin counting steals as an official statistic until 1973, and some people say Cheeks’ mark is diminished. For example, there are no records of most of Oscar Robertson’s steals for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks because he retired one year after they became an official stat.

Same goes for Bob Cousy, Hal Greer, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Bill Sharman - all good defenders.

Former New York Knicks guard Walt Frazier is sometimes considered the “true” career steals leader.

No records exist of Frazier’s steals in his first six seasons, although he averaged 1.94 per game and 147 per season in his last four years with the Knicks. Cheeks averaged 2.10 per game and 154 per season.